As things gets confirmed and well-known or proven to be wrong, I will delete them.

News in blue.

Umbrion says, "Achates, when you have lived as long as we have, you may find that dates of birth become less important."

Tenebrion says, " The chaos of the plane itself is diminishing as your understanding increases. The chaos you percieve at any rate."

While I try to keep this as up to date as possible, it is almost impossible to write up all our collective theories and guesses, not to say all observations. That means that we are usually further ahead in relating what we see than you can read out from this. To really get up to speed, you can talk to exiles in the lands. However observations and facts from our explorations will be on this page as soon as I am able.

The Crystal

To assemble the guiding crystal you need 4 pieces all found outside and in the Keep.

The assembled Crystal guides you throuh the Zodiac Circle under Tenebrion´s Keep, and going through the last Zodiac sign you end up in the Rat Zodiac on Ethereal Plane.

 The Crystal cannot be used as a guide in the Zodiac Circle under Umbrion´s Keep.

Constellation (s)

 In the basement this can be found. They have the same shape as the obelisk thing outside the keep. They hum in specific time intervals.

 Tenebrion - "The ether flowing to Purgatory from the ethereal plane seems to pulse at intervals".

 Entil´Zha heard the humming go up a tone while she was in Lugubrion´s constellation, and I was standing in the middle of the same in Umbrion´s Constellation.

Formerly referred to as the crystal room, we now think they represent a constellation. Callia has taken a look at it and suggest the constellation is Elixus the Cat. Maybe it´s there as a pointer to the Zodiac room, or maybe the specific constellation is important in some other way.

In a letter, Luminary however suggests that this is the constellation of Sororian instead, and none of the Solar Constellations. Sororian resides in the Terrestrial (Earth) Sphere, and is stationary in the sky, directly over the Lok Groton Isles she writes.

In a conversation with Tenebrion, Callia mentioned Sororian the constellation - and Mr T was startled that she knew of it, then was in a hurry to claim it was of no importance.

 This consellation is not only present in Tenebrion´s keep, but in the other brother´s as well.

Does it simply show their current destination, namely our plane?

Note: Cimmbrion´s floorlibrary in the Ethereal Tower seems to be an observatory and a library for our known solar constellations, and some less familiar Terrestrial and Lunar ones.

Travelling the Zodiac under Tenebrion´s Keep

When travelling the Zodiacs, you have to stay on the path. If you slip out, you can still catch up, but you have to go the path again. Taking shortcuts to the party will not get you to the ethereal plane. All signs have to be travelled through, in the order the crystal gives.

You have to start the travel at the first room down the ladder from the keep. Going in a different room will just give a slight flicker from the crystal.

 On the last travels to EP, many have been left behind when the group enters EP.

They go back to the Zodiac Circles, and not to EP. This is still a mystery, as they all have gone through the same path as everyone else. Speculation is that the EP might be "full" on entry, and that this is the reason.

The Ethereal Sword, it´s box , Sword of Souls and the "ethereals".

The ethereal sword comes in a wooden box. Both the key and the crystal will vanish when you open the box.

The ethereal box lasts in this plane, at least a Zodiac. It will vanish after that. Only one box/sword can exist at any given time.

 The box may not be opened anywhere else than the Ethereal Plane. However, it can be opened inside the EP tower.

 If the box is opened, the sword will last for one PT day.

 Mervine´s Sword of souls has "screamed in fear over the ethereal sword". Mervine uses his SoS frequently. While being outside the Rat Zodiac circle in the ethereal plane, Elenis´ SoS screamed in fear also. Noivad has this theory: ".... a soulsword screamed when brought near a ethereal sword. This suggests the swords are aware. And since a sword would not be fearful of an inanimate object, only an enemy, it would lead one to conclude the ethereal swords are sentient as well"

 There are also reports that the sword of souls sense other SoS owners before they step out of library.

 A sword of Souls have screamed in fear in the Nacerean Order crypts.

 Using the sword in the zodiac circle under UK only gives the usual message: " The mysteries of the Ethereal Sword defy explanation."

 Umbrion on the EP sword held by an exile: "Dangerous." Umbrion says, "All of us, in your hands."

Guesses:We need to gather all the "ethereals" and then do.. something? Become an "ethereal warrior"? End up.. somewhere?All in the timeframe of a Zodiac, which is as long as a box lasts.

It´s getting clearer "what" all these ethereals are, and what kind of power they hold. And also why they are fenced in on the EP, and why the Brions guard them with ferocity. That "we" are fenced out may be a better description.. The "beast" they can destroy, is the Brions themselves? Maybe make them mortals again?

 The Ethereal Boots are located. They are found by going through the garden maze after the Scarmis Cave, and through the sparkling flowerpath in the garden of the rising Zodiac. So far we haven´t made the same tests as we did for the Sword, we assume both the box and the Boots themselves will last and appear in the same way as the sword.

 Going through the path will take you to the Warrior Circle in the first sphere.

Note: Dropping them on the floor in our plane will make them vanish.

Although we know where The Ethereal Helmet must be, we have yet not been able to travel the zodiac maze under Umbrion´s Keep in the correct order. Some observations:

 There are 12 snells all in all, and each one is identifiable and distinct from the other. "Mapping" almost complete.

 The path seems to change as often as in Tenebrion´s maze.

Lifespan.

 Every shard has it´s own one day PT day lifespan, according to when they were picked up.This also holds true for the mist key. When the crystal is assembled - the whole crystal has one PT day lifespan as well. This at least, seems to be the case. Opening the box in EP will make the Mist Key vanish.

The Ethereal Plane

 Travelling the Zodiac circle under TK, will lead you to the Rat in EP, every time.

 Chosing the sign that is rising at the time, will lead you out of the ring and into the main snell. Choosing others lead to Purgatory.

 Travelling the maze under Cimmbrion´s Keep will take you to the Warrior Circle in EP, every time.

Guess: Each zodiac sign holds a different "ethereal" reachable by travelling the brother´s Zodiac Circles.

Guess2: As each brother is linked to an element, they are also linked to their own Zodiac sign.

 When you use the ethereal stone, the snell you enter can be any of those in the ethereal plane. It doesn´t seem to be relevant which Zodiac is rising here.

 Merchants dealing with sword and helmet in TK removed. You can no longer exchange a sword for an ethereal stone. "In fear of us handling something we do not understand."

 There are several other entrances to the ethereal plane. Tenebrion

 The ethereal plane is just one of many planes. Not all can be reached by the Brions, but they sure like to try. (Why they want this so bad is still not clear.)

They may just like to travel the planes, or they might have a very particular goal in mind. A destination perhaps, or another goal.

8/3/01  Tenebrion: Every time someone moves from the Ethereal Plane to Purgatory they are making things worse.(If indeed you care about the condensation of ether in Purgatory.) And the second...The Ethereal Sword is not a play thing. Attempts to acquire it cannot help you.

Tenebrion : One can pass between planes from the Ethereal plane at the places of densest Ether.

Another sphere of the ethereal plane is accessible through the skulls inside the Scarmis Pen. It has the same octagonal shape as the first , mostly beasties we know from the first sphere.

Mapping of the second sphere completed. It seems to be a "corner" of the ethereal plane, and the fire circle there works as a "bridge" between the second and the first sphere. Going west from inside the circle will send you to the first sphere. The illusions outside the circle will send you inside the circle. The illusion inside the circle will send you outside.

You can go to second sphere from the first sphere, to the above mentioned circle or "bridge" - but to get past the ethereal force, you need to wear or have an ethereal amulet. Only those with one, can pass - which seems to indicate we would need one for travelling to the third sphere, and fourth ..

Recently Tenebrion seemed to have confirmed this, or something along those lines - when saying that there are 9 planes, or spheres.

The EP Tower

30/08/01 The tower in the plane has been reached. It has 6 floors. Going up from the topfloor leads down again. Every floor resembles places in our world. Ash, Lava, Marsh, mud, Savannah, Forest

 There are six brothers all in all. The brother´s names are : Tenebrion, Umbrion, Lugubrion, Melabrion, Sombrion and Cimmbrion.

 Through Skrystal readings it has been confirmed that each brother has a floor in the tower.

 Every floor has a portal.
22/10  5 of the 6 portals in the tower are now open. Only Tenebrion´s and Ummbrion´s leads to their respective keeps still.

 Every floor has also a library, with an illusion protecting it. Inside these libraries you might find Kyuem pieces. In Cimmbrion´s library, there is a study of constellations. Solar, Lunar and Terrestrial.

 Each brother is linked to their own element. Umbrion - Fire, Lugubrion - Water/Ice etc.

 They don´t need stones to travel.

 The zodiac circles on the ethereal plane are build by the Brions in a joined effort. Tenebrion referred to them as "fences to mark private property."

 On the circle under Tenebrion´s keep: Emmei says, "Whenever the brothers come to visit they come up from down there."

Guess: They build the zodiac circles to travel to the ethereal plane. After that they build the tower to travel further. The tower is the portal to all those planes the Brion´s currently can acess.

6 brothers , 6 floors in the tower, 6 zodiac circles on the ethereal plane, 6 "ethereals" in boxes that lasts a zodiac....

 Zorton´s readings in the libraries: (Need a visionstone to really place these at the correct floor. )

1 floor - Tenebrions
You cannot determine any meaning from these texts at this time.
Each viewing angle changes the writing.
Some words look familiar but are out of context.

2 floor - Umbrions

3 floor - ?
You notice that each page may be viewed from three angles.
The structure of the language makes no sense.
You recognize the words; sword, helmet, shield, plate, boots, belt.

4 floor - ?
This does not look like a real language.
Much of the writing appears to be in a code of some kind.
Judging the handwriting, most books have been written by only six people.

5 floor - ?
Hundreds of constellations. Many are unfamiliar.
The pages are all made of Sylvan skin.

6 floor - ?
The books make use of many different languages.
Some diagrams appear to represent the Planes.
Some words look familiar but are out of context.

A kyuem must be powered before it will absorb ether
cannot be activated until assembled and placed
mistakes are extremely dangerous
each piece requires more skill to add
will prevent backwash from a portal
must be assembled in the correct order
an amulet can activate a Kyuem.An amulet can determine how many clouds of ether are on the far side of a portal.

Ethereal Amulet and trainers

Ethereal Amulet given to Scholars:  Will measure ether activity in the immediate area.

 Even with lessons in how to use it, the amulets seems to break quite often.

 Even if most healers and fighters are not able to train in their use, they can still wear them. Use it though, and it will probably break without proper training.

 Readings with maxed out training indicate large fluctuations from - no ether leak in temple, to - large ether leak. Typically just within minutes of eachother, in intervals and following a pattern, a wave.

 Tenebrion and Umbrion want readings from throughout our plane. Umbrion wants many at each snell, to account for natural fluctuations. Umbrion: "We need to know where there are extreme readings...Both high and low."

Brions have made more slaves as trainers for ethereal study, so far the mystics are those who can train. All the brothers seems to have made one. They seem to build on leassons learned, so you can´t just start to train with anyone. You have to follow a certain order. 1. Slave found in Umbrion´s keep, 2. Slave found in Tenebrion´s basement, 3. Slave in EP tower through a portal to Lugubrion´s Keep, 4. Slave in EP tower through another portal to Melabrion´s Keep 5.? (Place found in Sombrion´s Keep but no slave present) 6 . ? Slave in the garden maze under Cimmbrion´s Keep.

Note: It seems for the moment natural to assume that the slave in the garden maze is indeed nr.6, and not nr. 5 - as they seem to follow the order of birth/floors etc. But, this is not verified.

Kyuems

If you look at the sketch from the Ethereal Plane, the glowing thing with the Rat Zodiac sign on it, is a Kyuem.

Recently exiles have found Kyuem pieces. To build one you need 4 pieces all in all. In addition you would need a skilled mystic, and a notion where to place the thing - as it´s quite possible it can´t be placed just anywhere. You may want to readCallia´s thoughts on the Kyuems.

"Mistakes are extremely dangerous". Please do not try to assemble one with less skill and knowledge than required. We have no idea what it might do, but it would be something really bad for sure. Everything from blowing up in your face to opening a rift.

Tenebrion has mentioned to Callia that it needs to be"aligned" or that its "direction" is important . He has also described them as "waterwheel" and "windmill".

Guess: "A kyuem must be powered before it will absorb ether". May have a stabilizing effect on the ether flow. But it´s main use may be something else.

Guess2: A power source ? It uses the ether as energy, and thus have the stabilizing effect and at the same time serves as a power station? For what ? For portals?

Note : The Brions have threatened with war if the Kuyem pieces are not returned. What you do is up to you. However, remember Tenebrion threatened with the same thing when we found crystal shards in the Poppy field.

"Control room"

The way to this room is one exile high and only one exile can enter at a time.

We have met WS, Tortured Soul, Hooded Shadow, GW and Banshee here, one at a time. (Banshee near midnight)

Guesses:
It just cries of "control room" or "timelock" to me, either way I think it´s significant. We have been there during a plain midnight, with pathfinders but no mystics. A banshee spawned near midnight, that´s all.
Somehow I think I expect something to spawn there that is more in line with "The keeper of the Key" or "The Sword Guardian" or "The Captain of the Guard" than a normal beastie..

Jazz´ sketch shows the Hooded Shadow they met there. Time of day unknown.

As far as I know, no attempts has been made to check this place during different times of day.

Oddities

In the forests on Tenebrion´s island.

The "evil´s eye" is possibly either the moon or the sun.

Note: Tenebrion usually gets in a hurry to leave from the conference room when the sun rises....

Obelisk

There is this obelisk thing on a small island near the keep, which seems to have some sort of energy field on top.

It has the same shape and form as the ones in the basement.

31/07/01 Obelisks might not be the right word. Pillars, as in something used to keep something up might be better.

 Ethereal Amulet reading: The amulet vibrates strangely.

Guess: It´s connected to the constellation in the basement, they are all in a string and connected to the planes. A power source used to fire up the zodiac circle.

Tree formation

This formation gives the same symbol as an exile wielding the ethereal sword, the tree here representing the exile.

Whats up with those flower patches and the one place with rocks?

And why is it I suddenly find this sketch to try and tell me something of great importance?